


Sven in Berlin

by Rehe_im_Walde



Series: Paul and Richard - the teen years [2]
Category: Rammstein
Genre: Eventual Fluff, First Love, M/M, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21863299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehe_im_Walde/pseuds/Rehe_im_Walde
Summary: Paul Hiersche (later in life known as Paul Landers) met Sven (later known as Richard Zven Kruspe) on a schooltrip to Schwerin, where they only spent a short time together, but long enough to develop a teenage-crush.As they forgot to exchange contact information however, Paul figured he would never see or hear from Sven again..(for the story of the schooltrip, see part 1 of the series)
Relationships: Richard Kruspe/Paul Landers
Series: Paul and Richard - the teen years [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1575004
Comments: 19
Kudos: 90





	1. Spartakiade

**Author's Note:**

> The characters are, ofcourse, their own and not mine. All thoughts and conversations are fictional.
> 
> This story is set in July 1981

"Boys, I have good news!"  
16 year old Paul Hiersche (known to his parents and teachers as Heiko, but Paul disliked his birthname so discouraged anyone from using it whenever he could) and his classmates exchanged looks of doubt, anything that their principal, Herr Mühler, announced in that way, usually was something they'd call anything but 'good'.

"As you know the GDR Youth-Spartakiade will start tomorrow and as we are fortunate enough to have the honour of hosting it in Berlin, I have a treat for you: you will all attend the event from opening to closing ceremony and all sporting venues of your choice! And yes, this will be instead of your regular classes!"  
Paul sighed, he was not a big sportsfan and in his experience there probably was a catch to this announcement.  
Herr Mühler looked around the classroom with a broad smile, his enthousiasm was only met by one or two meager smiles in return, so he continued "Ofcourse you will want to use this opportunity as well as possible, so attending sports events the entire day will be mandatory. As youngsters of Berlin, it will be your job to welcome your compatriots from other towns across our beautiful country and cheer on our nation's future Olympians!"

"Knew it.." Paul whispered to his mate sitting next to him "..instead of sitting in boring classes we'll sit in boring sports halls.."  
"Mr. Hiersche! I'm sure what you have to say is so fascinating you will want to share it with the entire class!"  
Paul groaned, but knew better than to ignore an order like that, he had spent enough of his school-life in detention to consider it a waste of his time (not to mention it would get him in trouble at home as well) so he got up from his chair "I was only saying I was looking forward to seeing our compatriots and cheer on the future Olympians sir.."  
"I bet you did..these youngsters taking part in the Spartakiade are sportsmen our country is proud of, they will show a level of sportsmanship and patriotism that you can only hope to achieve someday, Heiko Hiersche!"  
"Where there is life, there is hope, sir.."  
"Sit down boy, you will attend the event or it's two weeks detention for you. Anyway, all of you: the opening ceremony is tomorrow afternoon in the stadium. Be there or suffer the consequences..I'm sure you will all enjoy the event."  
With a last glance at Paul, Herr Mühler left the room to go and spread his happy news in the next class.

\-----

And so it came that the next day Paul's group of friends had joined their schoolmates in the stands of the stadium, as the opening ceremony of the Spartakiade was getting on it's way. As the GDR government considered sports of all variety a great way of representing the country (and the political system), a lot of effort was made of sports-events for youngsters, so the event was modelled as a smaller scale Olympic Games.  
Paul and his friend Flake were only half watching the entrance of the teams from the various towns into the stadium. Flake, younger than Paul but equally proficient in sports (that is to say: not much) was telling Paul about the new piano his parents had at home and how he hoped to study music, maybe even making it his job when he grew up.  
Paul had taken up playing guitar a while ago and liked that instrument, so Flake and him were daydreaming about a future band together.

Every few minutes their daydreaming was interrupted by the stadiumspeaker announcing the next team after which Paul and his friends would cheer without much enthousiasm and then return to their conversation.  
After Potsdam, Rostock and Schwerin were announced, Paul picked up their chat again, but noticed Flake this time wasn't listening, but was watching the last team with more interest than usual.  
"Flake.. hey, Flake! What's up?"  
At first Flake didn't reply but then turned to Paul and pointed to the Schwerin team "Look at the second row, third boy from the left.."

Paul was still not very interested but obliged all the same...then all of a sudden sat up in his chair to get a good second look at the boy Flake had pointed out "What the.."  
"Isn't that Sven? You know, that boy that you.." Flake leaned over to Paul so their mates wouldn't hear "..spent the night with on our schooltrip.." he giggled a bit nervous at his own remark.  
"It can't be.." Paul's attention was now fully on the team that walked into the stadium (earning him an approving look from Herr Mühler who, not knowing the cause of Paul's focus, thought there was hope for the teen yet).  
"He looks a lot like Sven, he walks the same as well..I really think it's him.."

Paul had now gotten up from his seat and took a few steps down the stands to the arena. He had indeed befriended Sven on the recent schooltrip and had spent the night with him outside, eventually ending up kissing the other boy (that part he hadn't even mentioned to Flake, let alone to anyone else).  
He had however forgotten to ask Sven's address or even his lastname, so without a way of getting in touch with him, he had figured he would never see the 14-year old again. Paul liked to consider himself quite tough and not overly emotional, but that realisation had caused him a few sleepless nights at home (and even a few tears, muffled in his pillow). However as he saw no way to fix it, he had tried to get Sven out of his mind.

Until now...  
Paul took another few steps down to the arena, with every step a little surer that it was indeed the boy he had met, but still not fully believing his luck.  
When he was at the end of the stairs he tried to get the boy's attention by calling his name. As noisy as the stadium was with all the teams and audience, he doubted Sven would hear it (if indeed it was him..Paul still wasn't 100% convinced), but didn't know what else to do.  
Somehow however, maybe it was a coincidence, maybe the sound of Paul calling his name had travelled over the noise, Sven turned his head to the stands.  
As his eyes met Paul's, his look of surprise matched Paul's own of a few seconds before:  
"Paul.."  
Paul saw Sven's mouth form his own name more than he heard it, but he smiled a broad smile. Sven smiled back, he raised his hand a little in a small wave, but he felt the eyes of his team's officials in his back and didn't dare to do anything else.  
Paul realised his schoolmates and teachers were behind him, and knew he'd be in a lot of trouble if he did what he really wanted to do, jump over the stands-barrier and run to the Schwerin team, so only shouted "What sport are you in?"  
Over the noise in the stadium Sven gestured that he couldn't hear what Paul yelled, and had to continue the parade into the stadium with the other teams.  
As the team walked on, Paul returned to his seat next to Flake, his other mates giving him questioning looks, but as the next team was announced they had no time to ask any further.

"So it is him.."  
Paul smiled again "Yes it's him alright..I have to see him, if only I can find out what event he is in.."  
"He is looking for you too" Flake had been following the Schwerin team, now arriving at the other side of the stadium and lining up in the field in the middle, Sven looking over to their side as often as he dared.  
When the last teams had entered the stadium, the official part of the ceremony was conducted, but Paul had only eyes for one person, and as Sven's eyes met his, they smiled at eachother, unable to do much more. 

When the speaker announced all the various sports that were part of the Spartakiade, Sven raised his hand a little. At the mention of 'Wrestling', he pointed to himself, looking at Paul to make sure he saw.  
Paul smiled and raised his thumb to show he understood.  
Flake had seen the gesture too "He's a wrestler, Paul."  
Paul snorted "Thanks for the translation Flake" but was too happy to make snide remarks and gave Flake a small squeeze on his knee to show he appreciated him helping "I think I know which sport I'm really interested in all of a sudden."

The rest of the ceremony flew by without an opportunity for audience and sportsmen to meet. As the teams retreated to their hotels, Paul and Flake made their way to the exit of the stadium to buy a programsheet which listed all sports, dates and venues.

\-----

The wrestling events started the next day so Paul and Flake made their way to the, for them unfamiliar, sports-hall. The other guys from their clique had frowned at them for choosing this sport and had opted for the more popular Athletics and Swimming events, but Paul didn't care. He was even a bit relieved at being able to spend the day without prying eyes.  
They had no idea when, or even if, Sven would compete today, but Paul decided he was not taking any chances this time.

After several wrestling-matches they were in luck.  
"..and on the right: Sven Kruspe from team Schwerin.."  
Paul grinned: a last name, that was a good start.  
Sven hadn't seen them, too busy concentrating on his match.  
Even though they knew nothing of the sport, Paul and Flake could tell he was good at it, ending the bout after only a minute with a hold of his opponent on the mat.  
To Paul's disappointment, after the fight, Sven was whisked away by his trainer back to the warm-up area.  
"What if he is not allowed to do anything but compete today.."  
"Then I'm staying until the end of the competition.."  
"But what if his trainers are really strict.."  
"Somewhere there will be a break, wrestlers take breaks too.."  
"But what if.."  
"Flake.." Paul looked at his friend "..I don't know how, but I'll find a way to talk to him.." and more to himself then to Flake "..I *have* to talk to him.."

Several hours passed, Paul and Flake watched more sports in this one day than they had in the entire previous year, but hadn't managed to attract Sven's attention yet. He had wrestled a few more matches and again won easily, but again was whisked away right after.  
Just when Paul started to worry whether Flake had been right, he felt a hand on his shoulder.  
"Hey.." Sven sat down next to Paul in the stands and smiled at the other two teens.  
For a moment Paul was too surprised to respond, but quickly recovered "Hey.."  
They smiled at eachother, relieved, happy, excited to see eachother again, this time up close. 

For a minute they were speechless, processing all the emotions that surfaced all at once.  
Flake looked at the two and snorted "You've been wanting to see him all day, and all you can say is 'Hey'? This is what I suffered through a whole day of sports for..?"  
Sven grinned at him, then turned to Paul "I've been wanting to see you too..I hoped you would be here..thanks for coming.."  
"You're welcome.." again Paul fell silent, too busy just staring at Sven.  
Flake snorted again "This is the best you can do? Okay, let me help.." He handed Sven a small piece of paper "Here, I don't know if Paul will start talking again any time soon, but just in case.."  
"What is it?"  
"Paul's name, address and telephone number; in case he forgets to ask your's again, at least you'll have his.."

Paul threw a grateful look at Flake, then turned to Sven again. He didn't dare to openly hug or get too close to him in the stands, but carefully lay his hand on the bench between his and Sven's leg, so he could secretly touch him, however minimal, without anyone noticing.  
"I thought I wouldn't see you again, I didn't know anything about you besides your first name."  
"Same here.." Sven moved his leg a little so his knee touched Paul's, Paul stroked his thigh with his finger.  
"I can't believe the coincidence of you being here.."

"Well, you know.." Sven chuckled and blushed a little "..when you guys left after your schooltrip, I went to your hostel to ask which school you were from. Then when the Spartakiade turned out to be in Berlin, I trained every day and begged my trainers to put me on the team. I figured I'd go looking for your school on a day off and ask for you, hoping someone would know a Heiko that wanted to be called Paul.." then smiling at Flake "..or knew your friend, I thought 'Flake' was such a peculiar name, that there was bound to be someone who had heard of him.."  
Flake grinned at the remark, even though his given name was Christian, indeed everyone knew him as Flake.  
Sven smiled at Paul "I just hadn't expected to already see you in the stadium yesterday."

He gently rubbed his knee against Paul's "..but I'm glad you were there.. I must have smiled all the way back to the hotel. The trainers thought something was wrong, so I sort of told them I had seen a relative in the audience. If anyone asks, you're my cousin from Berlin."  
"No problem" Paul grinned, happy that Sven was next to him and obviously happy to see him too. Again he stroked Sven's thigh, this time letting his fingers rest on his leg, eager to keep physical contact with the other boy.  
He nodded to the wrestling-mat, competition still continuing "You're really good, you must train a lot.."  
"Well, you know..I'm not really into sport that much, but at least I can get away from my parents' house that way. The team-physician patches me up when I come to training bruised or battered, our trainer let's me stay after practice to help him, so I don't have to go home yet. And my parents don't mind because they consider sports to be a decent thing to do.." with a wry smile "..as my step-father puts it 'maybe Sven will turn out to be of some use after all'."  
"Home life not improved then.." Paul wanted to give Sven a hug, but was still hesitant to do so in public.  
Sven shrugged "It is what it is.."  
Not wanting to say more on the subject he turned to look at the wrestling-match. At the same time, he casually put his hand on the bench too, laying it on top of Paul's.  
Paul squeezed his hand, while also pretending to look at the match, but in reality more interested in their hands gently stroking and rubbing.

After the match was finished, Sven again turned to Paul "I'll have to go now, but tomorrow we have a day off. I was wondering if you would meet up with me, maybe take me on a little sight-seeing in Berlin..only if you want to ofcourse.."  
"Sure, I'd love to.."  
"Your friend can come too if he wants.."  
Flake grinned "I'm just glad I don't have to watch sports tomorrow, you guys can go sight-seeing together.. I think I've done my job at playing Cupid between you two.."  
Paul grinned too, giving Sven's hand a final squeeze.

As Sven left to join his team, Paul followed him with his eyes as long as he could.  
Flake looked at Paul "He made a lot of effort to see you, he must really like you.."  
"I really like him too.."  
"Any idea on which sights you're going to show him? Not the boring tourist-y stuff I hope?"  
Paul smiled, still following Sven's retreating figure "I don't care, I'll take him wherever he wants to go.."


	2. Wall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Initially thought this fic was going to have 2 chapters, but it will be 3. Thank you for the hits, kudos and comments to the first chapter, hope you'll like this one..

Next day Paul again sat in the audience in the wrestling-hall. Sven had an early morning training session but after that was free for the afternoon, and to arouse as little suspicion as possible, they had agreed to meet on the same bench as yesterday.  
Paul was following the various matches to pass the time, and after a while even found himself cheering on a wrestler from Berlin who he vaguely recognised as a guy from his school.

"Are you becoming a sports-fan now? Don't tell me we are going to spend my afternoon off watching wrestling?" Sven grinned, casually (but not accidently) laying his hand on Paul's leg as he sat down next to him.  
"I thought you'd be impressed with me learning about your sport.." Paul grinned back, equally casually brushing Sven's arm "..but no, hate to disappoint you, you'll have to spend your afternoon with just me and whatever Berlin has to offer to out-of-town tourists like you.."

\-----

A short while later both teens made their way outside. Still weary about being seen by people they knew, they walked side-by-side but made no attempt at touching eachother.  
"Still can't believe we see eachother again.." Paul still couldn't really believe his luck at Sven turning up in Berlin.  
Sven grinned "And thanks to your friend Flake, we can stay in touch now."  
"Can I have your address too, so I can write or visit?"  
"I'd love that, but I'm not sure what my parents would say; my step-dad opens all our mail first, I probably wouldn't get your letter at all after that.." Sven sighed "..I don't know, I'll try to figure something out.."

\-----

"So.. anything in particular you'd like to see, or do you just want to hang out somewhere?" Paul himself would just have gladly spent the afternoon just chatting, but figured Sven might actually be interested in some Berlin attractions.  
"Well, there is something I'd really like to see.."  
"A parc? A zoo?"  
"That wall with West-Berlin on the other side.."  
"The Wall? But that's so boring, there are loads of better things to do in Berlin.."  
"I've always wanted to see it, get up close to it.."  
"You can't even *get* up close to it, there's barbed wire, soldiers guarding it, people have been shot when they tried to get near it.."

Paul stopped walking, expecting Sven to stop too, but the other boy walked a few more meters then turned around "It's okay if you don't want to come, I looked up where it is at school, it should be quite near, so I'll be able to find it on my own...we can meet again later?"  
Paul sighed "No, don't be silly, if you want to see it, I'll come along, I'm looking forward to spending the day with you.." he started to walk again and when he was next to Sven he took his hand and squeezed it "..you're not getting away from me that easily this time."  
"I don't want to get away from you at all.." Sven smiled and nudged Paul with his shoulder "..I'm looking forward to spending time with you too..I missed you.."  
Paul felt the warm feeling returning to his body that he remembered from seeing Sven on his schooltrip and smiled too.

\-----

Only a few minutes later they were heading down the street that lead to the Berlin Wall. When they were in viewing distance of it, Sven wanted to get even closer and stand openly looking at the large wall and fenced off area around it, but Paul pulled him back.  
"Are you crazy? People have been killed doing that, the soldiers don't like anyone even acknowledging that it exists.."  
He took Sven's arm, pulled him into a side street and had him standing around the corner of a big building from where they could see the area without being seen.

Sven didn't talk anymore, completely focussed on the Wall and everything around it.  
Paul looked at the other boy, still not really understanding the attraction of the place for Sven, puzzled by the intense look that had appeared on Sven's face.  
Sven licked his lips and without taking his eyes of the Wall and the militarized zone in front of it he murmured "So, this is it.."  
"I told you there isn't much to it, shall we get going again?"  
"West-Berlin is on the other side.."

Paul had half started to walk away, but stopped and turned to Sven. All of a sudden it dawned on him what was on Sven's mind. Already when they first met, he had mentioned wanting to go to the West someday, which Paul thought was a bad idea. There were rumours about people going there and not returning, never to be heard from again, possibly dead. Paul felt a sinking feeling in his gut at the thought of never hearing from Sven again, not when he had just refound him..

"Nobody really knows what is on the other side, maybe it is worse than what we have here.."  
Sven bit his lip and said softly "Can't be worse.."  
"You don't know that.."  
"My real dad might be there..he was always nice to me..never hit me or anything.."  
This confirmed Paul's gut-feeling, from what little he knew of Sven; that the boy was serious about wanting to get away from his family-home was something he was sure of.  
"Are you sure your dad is there, in West-Berlin?"  
"No, but he might be..I haven't heard from him since he moved out, if he still lived in this country, surely he would have called or something, so I think he must be in the West.."  
Now Paul started to feel panicky "..but you don't know for sure? What if you can't find him when you go there, you'd have no way of coming back here.. How would you live there without knowing anyone or anyone knowing you..what if he isn't in West-Berlin at all, he might be anywhere.."  
Sven didn't react, still staring at the Wall.

Paul's panic was still growing at the lack of response from Sven. The boy seemed to be really serious about this. Paul was frantically trying to come up with arguments to make Sven change his mind, but couldn't put anything into words, so after a few moments he blurted out "..and even if he is there, who's to say that you can live with him, maybe he won't want you to.."

The moment he said it, Paul knew that it was a mistake, even without seeing Sven's face.  
Sven abruptly turned to him, opening his mouth as if to say something, then closing it again while swallowing a lump in his throat.  
"I'm sorry, that's not.." Paul wished he could take back his words " ..I didn't mean.."  
"Why wouldn't he want me..?" Sven voice was not much more than a whisper.  
Paul felt his heart breaking when he looked at Sven; he never realised you could hear loneliness, but he heard it now in the other boy's voice and saw it in his face, he even thought he could see tears in his eyes.

"Ofcourse he'll want you, I didn't mean it like that, I shouldn't have said.. it's just.." Paul was anxiously trying to find words to describe what he felt, but was annoyed with himself how difficult that was. He usually was very verbally proficient, always the quickest with jokes and discussions, but now, with Sven standing here in front of him with a hurt look in his eyes, any words Paul could come up didn't seem right.  
He took a step towards Sven, and put his arms around him, pulling him closer in a hug.  
Sven hesitated a few seconds, then wrapped his arms around Paul's waist, nestling his face in the crook of Paul's neck.  
Paul moved one hand to Sven's back to stroke him, the other wrapped around his shoulders. When he felt Sven softly starting to cry, he turned his head a little to kiss him gently on the cheek, then tightened the hug in an attempt to comfort the boy.

"Ssshh...I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said... I'm sure you'll find your dad.." Paul kissed Sven's cheek again "..it's just really dangerous to try to go West here at the Wall..I thought I'd never see you again, and I'm not ready for that to happen.."

For a while they just stood there embracing and stroking eachother, their hug saying more than words could. Paul tried to enfold as much of Sven as he could, holding him as he cried, trying to be there for the other boy.

"At least I tried.." Sven sniffled on Paul's shoulder, but stopped crying, still hugging Paul's waist and back "..I just wanted to see if maybe there was a small chance.. just maybe.." he let out a small chuckle "..maybe I thought that if I could see the West from here, I could see my dad there, waiting on the other side..." 

He pulled back a little to wipe his tears away with the back of his hand "..I always had this image of this place being like a big fence, and I'd just jump over it and run to him..I know it wouldn't happen, honestly..I just.. I thought.. just in case..."

Paul cupped Sven's face with his hands and gave him another soft kiss on the cheek "I'm sorry it's bad for you at home..I wish there was something I could do.."  
Again Sven chuckled "You don't happen to know a magical spell to get my dad here, do you?"  
Paul smiled, glad that Sven wasn't crying anymore "I can try..." and as he remembered Sven telling him he loved American rock-music "..if it turns out I *can* do magic, I'm going to get KISS over here too, for a concert."  
"That would be cool! Okay, maybe I'll stay here a bit longer then, I wouldn't want to miss a KISS-concert."  
Paul rubbed Sven's cheeks with his thumbs "I may need to practice a bit though...bit rusty with the old magic.."  
"That's okay, I'll just get on with 'Plan B'; growing up fast and getting a job to make money so I can move out" he nudged Paul's head with his own "maybe I'll move here, there are people here I like.."  
"Are you sure you're okay?"  
"Yeah..I'm sure.." Sven gave Paul's side a small squeeze "..can't blame a guy for trying though.." as he managed a grin.

Paul looked in Sven's eyes, still cupping his face with his hands, and he smiled too. Even though he had only just met him a short while ago, he liked this boy, no, loved this boy and his ever-optimistic way of getting on with life, no matter what challenges life threw at him.  
He brought his face closer to Sven's, at first still hesitant, but when Sven didn't pull away, he gently put his lips on the other boy's and kissed him.  
Sven lifted his hand and put it in Paul's neck, softly stroking Paul's hair, meanwhile responding to the kiss.

Sheltered as they were behind the corner of the building, unable to be seen by other people, they continued kissing and playing with eachother's lips, after a while leaving off again to catch their breath.  
Paul gave Sven a long tight hug, then took his hand "Let's go somewhere else, this place always creeps me out.."  
As they started to walk away, this time they were happy to remain holding hands. Paul had overcome his initial hesitance of being seen by people he knew.

"Okay, where will we go now?"  
"You're the guest, where do you want to go, did you have any other tourist hotspot on your list.." Paul chuckled ".. hopefully a less dangerous one.."  
Sven grinned "The only parts of Berlin I wanted to see were that Wall and you. I didn't really think any further than that."  
"Hmm, and that Wall was a disappointment...now I feel I have to come up with something really awesome so I won't disappoint you too.."  
"You won't.." Sven stroked Paul's arm with his free hand "..really, wherever you want to take me is fine.."

As they walked Paul was considering several places he liked to visit with his friends, but felt none of them were right to take Sven to. As he looked aside to Sven, again the warm feeling stirred in his gut, happy to see Sven smiling at him. He moved a bit closer to put a quick peck on Sven's forehead, and all of a sudden it dawned on him what they could do together.  
"I know what I think you might like, let's go.."  
"Where are we going?"

Paul grinned "..my place.."


	3. Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who took the time to read, kudo or comment the previous chapters, I hope you enjoy this one!

"Come on in.."  
Paul unlocked the frontdoor of his home and stepped aside to let Sven in.  
Sven took one step into the hall, but was hesitant to walk further.  
"Walk right on, there's noone here."  
"Do you live alone?"  
Paul grinned "I wish.. no, this is my parent's place, but they and my sister are all working today, so we have the place to ourselves."

Sven took another few steps, then stopped again, waiting for Paul to join him, all of a sudden shy now he was in Paul's home.  
Paul closed the door, chuckling to himself at Sven's shyness, and even more in anticipation of what he had in mind. He stepped up behind the other boy, took him by the shoulders and steered him through the hallway to one of the rooms.  
"Here we are.." he opened the door and led Sven into the room "..welcome to my bedroom."

Sven grinned as he stepped inside and looked around. The room was unmistakenly Paul's.  
An unmade bed against the wall took up most of the space. Under the window was a small desk, which was barely visible under piles of books, notebooks, magazines and other stuff Paul had casually thrown on it.  
"Nice, it looks really cosy here. Don't your parents tell you off for not keeping everything neat? My mum would have a fit if my room looked like this."  
Now it was Paul's turn to grin "When I turned 16, my mum said I was old enough to tidy up my own room. I'm not too fussy about it and my parents don't mind that much. As long as I make sure there isn't anything smelly or moldy in here, they are pretty relaxed about it. Go on, sit down."  
He nudged Sven's arm and nodded to the bed, at which the other boy indeed sat down.

Paul closed the door and as he did so, he heard Sven uttering a soft "Oh..".  
A large poster of the rockband Kiss was taped, somewhat haphazardly, against the inside of the door.  
"Like it?" Paul hadn't really needed to ask, the look of excitement on Sven's face was evident.  
"Wel, yeah, ofcourse.." Sven got up from the bed to look at the poster up close "..where did you get that?"  
"A guy at my dad's job was allowed to make a businesstrip abroad and happened to see a magazine that had this in it.. as he knew I like music he saved it for me."  
"Wow..that's so awesome..."  
Sven held out his hand, then hesitated.  
Paul laughed "You can touch it if you want, they're not going to bite.."  
"It's really cool.." Sven touched the poster, careful at first, not wanting to damage it, but when it turned out Paul had taped it pretty tight, he traced the KISS costumes and instruments with his finger.

After a while he sighed and turned back to sit on the bed again, where Paul in the meantime had made himself comfortable as well.  
"This alone was worth a trip to Berlin..."  
"You're easy to please.." Paul snorted, but reached out to give Sven's thigh a squeeze, then added a little softer "..I thought you might like it.."  
"I do.." Sven smiled, moving a little closer to Paul so he could lean his head on the other boy's shoulder.

But Paul wasn't done yet "..and there's something else I thought you might like.."  
He got up from the bed and moved to his desk, next to which was a pile of clothes on something that Sven at first glance had thought to be a chair, but as Paul in one move dragged the clothes off, it turned out to be something different.

Paul grinned again at another "Oh!" he heard behind him, when he revealed a guitarstand with an acoustic guitar on it.  
Sven got up to stand next to Paul "You have a guitar.." Sven whispered in awe of the instrument.  
"It used to be my dad's, but he didn't use it, so he said I could have it.." Paul knew his surprise had succeeded, happy at Sven's reaction "..I thought you might like to try it.."  
"But..I've never played guitar yet, I never even saw one up close."  
"Well, if you want to become a famous rockguitarist, you have to start some time." Paul chuckled "You want me to teach you some stuff?"  
With big eyes Sven looked at him as if he couldn't believe what happened and whispered "Yes please...I'd love that.."

"Good, so first things first.." Paul picked up the guitar and took Sven with him to sit on the edge of the bed.  
He showed Sven how to hold the guitar, how to place his hands, how to press the strings and play a chord.  
"Okay, now play.."  
Twangg..  
"Oops.." Sven grinned "..I'll try again"  
Twoioingg..

Paul laughed "Yep, that's pretty much what it sounded like with my first time..and probably the same for the guys from KISS."  
Sven sighed "I can't imagine I'll ever be able to play like them.."  
"Imagine how much time you spent to learn how to wrestle, it'll probably be the same with learning to play guitar.."  
Sven focussed on the guitar again and gave it a new try. This time the strum actually produced a sound that was akin to something like musical notes.  
"See, that was better..do it again.."  
Sven tried again several times, getting more and more excited with every attempt.  
Paul had to give it to him, he obviously wasn't a quitter when he wanted to learn something. And by and by the sound he produced got better and better. 

Moreover, Sven turned out not only to be interested in playing, but in the instrument itself as well, asking Paul all kinds of questions, more than Paul had ever come up with himself.  
"Okay, but what are those knobs at the top called? And what are those horizontal bars on the neck?"  
"Man, you ask a lot of questions.."  
"I just like to know.."  
"Who cares what everything is called, as long as you know how to play it?"  
Sven grinned "..I want to know the technical stuff too..*and* know how to play it.."  
"Little bit of a know-it-all, are we.." Paul was amused by Sven's enthousiasm, inwardly congratulating himself on coming up with the idea of taking Sven to his room for the afternoon.  
"I'm sorry.." Sven looked at Paul, now slightly worried "..if I'm being too much trouble, you should say so.."  
Paul put his arm around Sven's shoulders and gave him a quick peck on the cheek "You're not..I like it that you're so excited about it.."

"My fingers are really sore now though.."  
"Yeah, that too I remember from my first time. I think it's enough for now, before you start to blister completely."  
He took the guitar from Sven's lap and placed it on it's stand again, then returned to sit next to the other boy on the bed.  
He grinned as he watched Sven, blushes on his cheeks, eyes still gleaming with excitement at his first guitar lesson.

"Well? Did I come up with a good idea to spend the afternoon?"  
"The best.." Sven turned to look at Paul, still grinning next to him. He hesitated a few moments, then leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek "..did anyone ever tell you you look cute when you smile?"  
"My mates know better than to call me cute.."  
"Maybe not your mates..but maybe someone else?"  
"Not really.." Paul blushed, a little uncomfortable at the direct question "..I mean, there were some girls I cuddled, but they mostly think I'm funny, not cute.."  
"They don't know what they're missing.." Sven grinned at Paul's reaction, and again reached out to plant a small peck on Paul's cheek.

As he started to lean back again, Paul stopped him by laying his hand on the back of Sven's neck and softly pulled him back towards himself.  
Sven didn't resist and, with a small smile, easily moved in Paul's direction again.  
Paul closed the gap between them and put his lips on Sven's in a soft kiss. Sven responded by laying one hand on Paul's shoulder, the other on Paul's thigh, all the while continuing the kiss.  
Paul stroked the other boy's hair, neck, cheek and shoulder.

For a while they were happy to continue, then Paul carefully started to use his tongue and to his relief felt Sven responding to that as well. He couldn't suppress a small sigh without breaking the kiss and slowly pulled Sven closer.  
Now Sven was so near, his upperbody was practically laying against Paul's own, his hands had moved to caress Paul's back, his breathing a bit faster than before.  
Paul enjoyed the warmth of the other boy against him, feeling the warmth stir in himself as well. He carefully started to lean back on the bed, pulling Sven with him..

(sound of the frontdoor opening and closing)  
"Paul, are you home?"  
Paul's mother had just come in the front door at the other end of the hallway, and was hanging her coat on the rack.  
Startled, both boys in the bedroom released their kiss and looked at eachother.  
"It's my mom.." Paul groaned, reluctant to let go of Sven "..I lost track of the time, it must be after 5.."  
Sven sat up "I promised my coach I'd be back at 5.30.. we're supposed to train tonight.."  
"Then we'll probably have to get going.." Paul sighed and pulled Sven in for a quick last hug, then released him and with a mischievous grin added "..too bad, I was starting to enjoy this.."  
Sven grinned too, giving Paul's side a tickle.

"Paul?" They heard Paul's mum walking in the hallway towards their room.  
"Yeah, coming, coming.."  
Paul got up from the bed and pulled Sven up as well. He straightened out Sven's shirt and then his own, before opening the door.  
If his mum was surprised that two boys appeared out of the room instead of one, she was smart enough not to show it.  
"Hi there..will your friend be joining us for dinner?"  
"No.." Paul looked at Sven a bit regretful "..he has to go back to his team, they are in town for the Spartakiade.." and even though she didn't ask, he felt he owed her some sort of explanation "I..ehm..I showed him my guitar..ehm..and stuff.."  
Before she could ask any further, Paul had nudged Sven to the frontdoor and they were outside again, making their way back to Sven's team.

\-----

As they arrived at the sportshotel, they were relieved they made it with a few minutes to spare.  
"Thanks for the afternoon Paul, I had a great time.." Sven gave Paul a hug.  
"So did I..I'm so glad to have you back..will you guys be having more days off this week?"  
Sven sighed "We're leaving tomorrow after the competition."  
"What?" Paul pulled back a little to look at Sven "So soon? You're not staying for the other sports?"  
"No, I think they are afraid we treat this as a vacation, so we're just here to wrestle and then we return home.."

Paul hugged Sven again "I'll miss you when you're gone.."  
"I'll think of a way for you to reach me.."  
In the distance the sound of a hooter indicated it was 5.30.  
"Please do, I want to be able to find you.."  
"Will you come to my match tomorrow?"  
"Are you kidding? You couldn't keep me away if you tried.."  
As they heard several footsteps coming in their direction, they released the hug and with one last squeeze of Paul's hand, Sven left to join his team.

\-----

Next morning Paul had packed a bag with lunch and some snacks to take to the sports-hall. He wanted to make the most of his time with Sven and as he didn't know the exact schedule of the competition, and how many matches Sven had to wrestle, he was prepared to stay there all day.

Paul made sure to sit on the same bench as before, so Sven would have no trouble finding him.  
Only a short time later Sven was announced for his first match of that day in the 1/8th finals. As he entered the ring, he threw a quick glance and a small smile at Paul, but then focussed again on his match.  
Not surprisingly for a match of the best 16 competitors, his opponent was good, even Paul with his limited knowledge of wrestling could tell. Sven was almost defeated once or twice but managed to work his way out of a hold every time.  
As the match neared it's end and the spectators became more and more excited, Paul was surprised at himself at how nervous he felt for Sven. As the seconds ticked away, Sven all of a sudden managed to get a good grip on the other guy and throw him flat on his back.  
Paul jumped up for joy and yelled Sven's name; only a few days ago he would have considered it uncool to get so excited over a sportsmatch, but now it was his own guy who won, he didn't care about cool anymore.

Sven greeted the audience applauding him, and when he caught Paul's eye he smiled with a gesture of relief. As his trainer manouvered him out of the hall again, he apologetically shrugged his shoulders at Paul as if telling him he couldn't help it..

Paul had anticipated this from the first day of competition. If Sven would manage to make it to the finals, Paul realised he wouldn't see much of him in person at all, but he hoped he at least would see him before the team left Berlin, however short it would be.

The next matches Paul watched with considerably less interest, taking the time to get something to drink and snack.  
After a few rounds Sven's next match arrived: the quarterfinals, meaning if he won this, he would be in the medalmatches. His opponent Paul recognised as the guy from his school.  
Both competitors were a good match, Sven was wrestling well, but the Berliner guy was strong as well, and difficult to surprise.  
When the time had almost passed, the other guy managed to get Sven in a holding position on the mat. Sven tried to get out of the hold. Paul yelled along with the crowd in encouragement for him, but the Berliner was too strong and the referee finished the match declaring the other guy the winner.  
Paul applauded politely for his schoolmate, but was disappointed for Sven, who now had to return home without a medal. He followed Sven with his eyes until he retreated behind the stage with his trainer and team-physician who, Paul was happy to see, didn't seem angry at Sven for loosing, but satisfied he had gotten this far.

Half an hour passed and just as Paul was pondering what to do, he felt a hand on his shoulder as Sven plopped down on the bench next to him.  
"Heeeeyyyy...there you are.." Paul squeezed Sven's leg after the other had sat down resulting in a small flinch "..oh sorry, did I hurt you?"  
Sven grimaced a little "No, it's okay, a little sore from that last match, that guy was strong.."  
"Sorry you lost..would have loved it if you'd won a medal."  
"At least now I can spend some time with you, if I had won that last match there wouldn't have been time off at all before we leave."  
Paul turned to look at the other boy, unsure if he dared to ask "You didn't..did you..ehm..loose on purpose..?"  
"No, that guy was really strong, he would have beaten me anyday..probably.." Sven chuckled at Paul's face "..let's just leave it at that, okay? I'm just glad to have some more time with you before we go.."  
"Do you want to go somewhere again like yesterday?"  
"Can't.. at the victory ceremony the whole team has to attend, and we're not allowed to leave the hall, they're probably afraid we're not back in time.." Sven sighed "..and we leave for Schwerin again right after the ceremony."

Paul took Sven's hand, for a moment lost for words at the thought of these being the last hours with him. He rubbed Sven's hand with his thumb.  
Sven sat a little closer to Paul and nudged his shoulder "Are you okay?"  
"Yeah..just a bit sad at the idea of not seeing you again for I don't know how long.."  
"Oh hey, before I forget.." Sven fumbled a small piece of paper out of his pocket "..here.."  
"What's this?"  
"I..eh..I hope you're okay with it.." Sven blushed "..I told our physician about you..about us, I mean. He is always really nice to me and he know the situation with my parents..so I told him I didn't know how you could stay in touch with me.. so he suggested.. look.."  
Sven unfolded the paper which had the name 'Richard K.' on it and an address "His first name is Richard, so we figured with his first name and the initial of my last name, noone in his house at first glance will suspect and he will know it's for me so he will pass your mail on to me..that's his address.."

Paul felt a tear prickling in his eye at the thought of this small piece of paper being the answer to what to him had seemed an unsolvable problem.  
He gave Sven a grateful smile and badly wanted to kiss him, but realised that that would be unwise to do in public. Instead he leaned towards Sven and let his head rest against the other boy's.  
Having no other option, the teens made the best of the time they had, enjoying Paul's bag of snacks and being near eachother.

\----

Much too soon to Paul's taste, Sven had to report to his team again to attend to his duties.  
As Sven had told him this would take about an hour, they had agreed to meet up at the sportshotel to spend the rest of their time together until the very last moment the bus would leave.

Initially Paul had intended to stay in the sports-hall until that time, but when Sven left him behind on the bench, he all of a sudden had an idea which had him running back to his home and turning straight around again, so in the end he arrived at the hotel at the same time as Sven came out of it to join him.

"All out of breath?" Sven laughed "Don't tell me you've gone all sporty now?"  
"Not likely.." Paul panted, trying to recover quickly "..here.."  
He handed Sven a flat package hastily wrapped in brown paper.  
"What is it?"  
"Goodbye gift for you.."  
"Can I unwrap it?"  
"No, it's just a stack of brown paper..ofcourse you can unwrap it!"  
Sven laughed as he started to unwrap the paper, then held his breath when he saw what was in it "Paul...!"  
Paul smiled as he put his hands around Sven's waist, but remained quiet, enjoying the look on Sven's face.  
"Paul, you shouldn't have.."  
"You like it don't you?"  
"Your KISS poster...ofcourse I like it, I love it! Are you really sure?"  
Paul looked around quickly, there was noone in sight.  
He pulled Sven towards him and gave him a quick kiss "I'm sure.. I want you to have it, so you can think of me once in a while.."  
Sven hugged Paul and whispered "I won't need this to think of you, but I love it, I'll treasure it always!"

Much sooner then they'd liked, the others of the team came out of the hotel and the bus arrived to take them back to Schwerin.  
"I hate to see you go, but at least we can write eachother."  
"And maybe meet up again sometime..?"  
"We will.."

"Sven, we should be leaving now" the team-physician was standing with one foot on the doorstep, looking at the teens.  
Sven gave Paul a last squeeze, then disappeared in the bus as well.  
Paul smiled at the physician "..and thank you for..you know.."  
"No problem, he's not a bad kid, even if some people think otherwise.." as he too stepped in the bus and the doors closed.

As the bus drove away, Paul remained standing on the sidewalk watching it until it disappeared at the end of the street.  
He didn't have to look when he felt someone step up next to him "Hey Flake.."  
"Did they leave already?"  
"Yeah, but this time I know I'll see him again..and you know what else?"  
"What?"  
"That band that you and I talked about..we're going to do that, and we're going to practice like sportsmen and be a really great band, so we can travel all over the country.."  
Flake chuckled "..particularly to Schwerin I bet.."  
Paul smiled "..I happen to like Schwerin..:


End file.
